WOMEN IN IT

The Impact of the Individual

MODERATORS:Katrina NovakovicAnnagreth Flierl Williams

May 2017

HOW TO SPEAK UP AND VOICE CONCERNS

YOUR VOICE MATTERS - SPEAK UP!

HOW TO SPEAK UP AND VOICE CONCERNS IN DIFFICULT SITUATIONS

Why is it so hard to address difficult issues? What stops people speaking up?

● Worry about others judging you, which stems from a lack of self-confidence.● Are you willing to let what other people think stop you from doing and achieving what

you want for the rest of your life?● Only by speaking up and taking action can you proactively bring about changes.

Questions to ask yourself: ● Think of something now that you’ve been putting off discussing with someone or a

group of people or a situation in the past where you wanted to speak up but didn’t.● What has stopped you speaking up about it? ● How can you overcome this and proceed?

BECOME MORE CONFIDENTTIPS TO BE MORE CONFIDENT IN YOURSELF AND YOUR DECISIONS

● Don’t dwell on the negative thoughts in your mind that are holding you back. Instead focus on what outcome you want and what you must do to achieve it

● Don’t be afraid of being wrong. It’s ok to make mistakes that you can learn from.

● Get to the point where you can handle if some people think you’re different, laugh at you or judge you

○ Don’t regret all the missed opportunities and things you could have done, if only you had said something instead of doing nothing just because you were scared what someone else might think of you

○ Don´t live life complaining about your situation thinking “what if?” all the time

TIPS FOR THOSE DESCRIBED AS QUIET/SHYIT CAN BE A BIG SHIFT TO SUDDENLY BECOME MORE VOCAL

Take small steps and look for opportunities to speak:● Know what and who matters to you, and why

○ You don’t have to speak up every single time. Decide how important the subject and the people involved are

● If during a group meeting you never usually say anything, set yourself a challenge to say one thing

○ You don’t need to give an impressive idea or solve a massive problem, just ask a question or say that you agree with what someone else said

● Communicate non-verbally○ During a group meeting, you may not feel confident speaking up on the spot.

After the meeting is over, you can take your time to review what you want to say and send an email to the group

ORIDORID IS A FRAMEWORK THAT ENABLES A FOCUSED CONVERSATION WITH A GROUP OF PEOPLE TO REACH AGREEMENT OR CLARIFY DIFFERENCESConsider the 2 objectives in every conversation:

1. The rational objective / practical goal of the conversation. What do you aim to accomplish by having the conversation?

2. The experiential objective / actual experience of having the conversation with you. How do you want others to feel when the conversation is over?

Objective - What do we know? What facts / data are needed to understand the situation?

Reflective - How do people feel? What are their emotional reactions and opinions?

Interpretive - What does this mean to people? What are the implications / issues / challenges?

Decisional - What should we do / decide / respond with?

Recommended Book:R. Brian Stanfield, The Art of Focused Conversation: 100 Ways to Access Group Wisdom in the Workplace. New Society Publishers, 17 Jun 2013,: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=_9KJKQwwuyYC&printsec=frontcover&dq=isbn:1550925520

ORID - EXAMPLE [1 OF 2]SPEAKING TO A CUSTOMER/COLLEAGUE ABOUT FAILING TO DELIVER A PIECE OR WORK BY A SET DEADLINE

1. What is the conversation objective / goal? What do you aim to accomplish by having the conversation?

- you want the person to deliver to you the piece of work ASAP

2. What is the conversation experience?. How do you want others to feel when the conversation is over?

- You want the person to feel motivated to provide you with the work. So you don’t want to upset them, you want to maintain a good relationship

ORID - EXAMPLE [2 OF 2]SPEAKING TO A CUSTOMER/COLLEAGUE ABOUT FAILING TO DELIVER A PIECE OR WORK BY A SET DEADLINE

Objective - What facts/data is known?

- agreed person would provide a piece of work by a specific date to you. Not done- agreed by person, or argue the deadline wasn’t set or never agreed to it at all...

Reflective - How do people feel/react ? Opinions?

- you aren’t too happy and feel like the person has let you down- other person may feel bad or it may not be a priority for them...

Interpretive - What does this mean to people? What are the implications / issues?

- this is delaying you progressing with your work and impacting the bigger project deadline.- Person agrees that this is preventing progress or it may not impact them personally.

Decisional - What should we do / decide / respond with?

- Person agrees to provide you the work by a new deadline or it’s not a priority to them and they don’t have time to do it and so you need to involve management etc.

TIPS FOR A CONVERSATION [1 of 4]

PREPARATION: PROCESS YOUR IDEAS/THOUGHTS BEFORE EXPRESSING THEM

Rehearse what and how to say it:● Emotionally- recognise you are fearful, understand why, and move through it. Accept

the conversation may be uncomfortable/difficult and you may be misinterpreted

● Consider your intent. Why are you saying it? What result/outcome do you want?○ Is it to simply give your opinion on a topic? Are you wanting someone else to

take action?

● Get straight to the point.○ Be specific and provide details○ State at least 1 fact and the impact this is having

TIPS FOR A CONVERSATION [2 of 4]

AVOID COMING ACROSS AS NEGATIVE / WHINING / COMPLAINING

It's easy for an honest expression to be seen as you negatively complaining. Avoid this by:● Communicate your intention

○ Make it clear you’re not just saying something to complain or hurt someone's feelings but because you want to help improve a specific situation

● After you’ve said what the issue is, immediately share what could be done to improve the situation or resolve the problem.

● If possible, include positives○ e.g. if giving feedback about someone, don’t just list all the negative aspects but

also state some positive things too

TIPS FOR A CONVERSATION [3 of 4]

TIMING

Consider the appropriate time to say something:● Say something on the spot or follow-up after you’ve had time to think● Is what you have to say more appropriate in a private one-to-one in-depth discussion

rather than in a big group of people?○ e.g. schedule a meeting in your manager’s calendar to discuss your pay

TIPS FOR A CONVERSATION [4 of 4]

LISTEN: REMEMBER YOU’RE HAVING A CONVERSATION, NOT A MONOLOGUE

● After you’ve said what you wanted to, be silent:○ It may be hard to stop talking and remain silent, but you need to allow the other

person time to think about what you just said. Wait for them to speak.○ While being silent, also silence that voice in your head telling you the all the

worst case scenario responses you could get

● Listen to the response, with the intention to understand the person’s point of view○ Remember you’re all just offering your opinions and perspectives of the facts○ Provide further details or ask questions

● Either you will reach agreement or plan the next steps (involve others, arrange another meeting to speak again...)

HOW TO INFLUENCE AND ENGAGE OTHERS

HOW TO INFLUENCE AND ENGAGE OTHERSINFLUENCE: ABILITY TO CHANGE SOMEONE TO THINK OR ACT IN THE WAY YOU WANT

Influence has 3 elements: ● message - identify what you want to influence (change of opinion or action)

○ usually a decision or timing of a decision for a specific outcome, such as greater investment/priority in a project, system/process improvements, partnerships…

○ Is what you say based on hear-say, opinion, experience, facts/data/statistics?● audience - identify right people (1+ people)

○ engage early, seek hidden agendas, what does your audience know already? ● influencer

○ have integrity, credibility, good reputation, trusted, honest, likeable, passionate ○ how knowledgeable and experienced are you in your message?○ consider asking someone your audience already listens to to help you influence

TIPS WHEN INFLUENCINGPEOPLE ARE RESISTANT TO CHANGE

● Problem and solution - “What’s in it for me?”: ○ there is a need/pain-point and your message (new way of thinking or action)

involves solving that problem○ benefits and the disadvantages of not doing it○ Speak against counter arguments

● Proof / comparison:○ Show the success others have achieved by doing it - people like to do what

everybody else is doing○ Case studies, testimonials, ROI, metrics…

● Transition - discuss the cost, risk, change, effort required○ make it seem simple and logical. The more you ask people to do, the less likely

they are to do it○ if the change is complicated/long term, break it into smaller manageable pieces

● Always check your own and others assumptions - don’t assume people just know!

SELF REFLECTIONPEOPLE THINK ABOUT LEAST WHAT THEY DO MOST

Questions to ask yourself:

● Why are some people more successful than others in getting their team or organisation to adopt new technologies, processes and ways of working?

● Think of something now or in the past that you’ve been trying to influence someone about, whether successfully or unsuccessfully.

● Consider what need it meets or what problem it solves.● Consider the challenges and resistance you face.● Consider how you successfully overcame the challenges you faced or if you were

unsuccessful consider what you can do to overcome them.

CAREER IN IT

FIND WHERE YOU FITMIXING YOUR PASSIONS WITH YOUR TALENTS

Red Hat believes that the best careers are built on individual passions and people do their best work when they love what they do, are good at it, and know that their contributions are valued by othersQuestions to ask yourself about your job:

● What do you enjoy most? What gives you energy?● What do you not enjoy? What takes your energy away?● What do you see as your top strengths? What are you

good at? Assess your competencies, too.● What areas for improvement have you identified?● What have you learned or developed in the past year? How

would you like to learn and develop in the coming year?● What are your career aspirations?

CONNECT

RUTH SUEHLECOMMUNITY MARKETING MANAGEROPEN SOURCE AND STANDARDS@suehle

● Started on Red Hat’s Brand team in 2007 as co-editor of Red Hat Magazine

● Moved to OSAS in 2012, originally to work on the Fedora Project

● Co-author Raspberry Pi Hacks book (signing tomorrow!)

● Core Contributor and former senior editor, GeekMom.com (part of GeekDad, previously of Wired)

KATRINA NOVAKOVICSENIOR CUSTOMER SUCCESS MANAGERCUSTOMER EXPERIENCE & ENGAGEMENT@KatNovakovic

● Joined Red Hat in 2013 and is based in the Farnborough office in England, UK.

● Passionate about working with customers using both traditional (storage, software, and servers) and emerging (digital data, mobile and cloud) technologies to ensure they have a positive customer experience achieving their goals.

ANNAGRETH FLIERL WILLIAMSEMEA MANAGER, STRATEGIC CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENTCUSTOMER EXPERIENCE & ENGAGEMENT @annagreth

● Joined Red Hat in 2008 and is based in the Farnborough office in England, UK.

● Focused on strategic customer and partner engagement across all verticals and product lines, her European teams are responsible for building up strong technical and business partnerships that govern the engagement for providing expert guidance, stability and security to ensure confident deployment of enterprise solutions in business­ critical environments.

THANK YOUplus.google.com/+RedHat

linkedin.com/company/red-hat

youtube.com/user/RedHatVideos

facebook.com/redhatinc

twitter.com/RedHatNews